little white truths

Hello and welcome to my next Project Dent update post!

I need to keep this one short because there's tax to be done and veggies to be roasted for the kids, so all I'll say by way of introduction is that I ended up using this palette for just over three weeks instead of my usual two - for no other reason than that we had a tough couple of weeks at the end of June and blogging had to take a backseat. 

Anyhoo.

Here's how the first half of my palette looked three weeks ago:

And today:

Below I've enhanced the above two shots for clarity.

Three weeks ago: 

Today:

As you can see, I've now hit pan in Lula - which I was expecting to do because we weren't too far away from that last update.

The other two mattes don't look very different although I did use them a couple of times each, and the three shimmers don't look much different from last update although Kim has a bigger dent in it than the photo shows. I expect to hit pan next in this shadow, at least on this side of the palette. 

Next, the right-hand side of the palette, as it was three weeks ago: 

Today:

Enhanced for clarity now.

Three weeks ago: 

Today:

The big change on this side of the palette is that I've now hit pan in Marina, which isn't surprising because I used it a lot during the denting period.

I'm also a hair's breadth from hitting pan in 5th Ave, which I'll definitely do next time I bring this palette into Project Dent.

You may remember that I'd aimed to hit pan in two shades when I introduced this palette to Project Dent this time around. I've done that now (happy days) and I'll aim to hit pan in another two shades when I next dent this.

That's all from me. Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x

Hello and welcome to my next round of Project Dent for the year. While I still need to wind up my last round, I need to edit the photos for that post and I may not have time for that this morning so I thought I sneak in this little intro post now.

Next up I'm denting another Hourglass quint, and it's the last of the three I own - so after this, I can put my Hourglass quints aside for a while and focus on other things. 

This quint in Monochrome is my favourite of the three I own (I've reviewed it here) and it's the first one I bought so it encouraged me to buy the other two, which unfortunately I don't like as much.

Still, I enjoy the formula of Monochrome and I love how it airbrushes my eyelids and makes me look younger. Indeed, I'm looking forward to using it again and it will slot in nicely with the shadows I'm panning as part of my Pan that Palette challenge.

Here's how it's looking today, 1 July 2019:

Enhanced for clarity:

So I've obviously hit pan in one of the shadows already and I think I can hit pan in the matte pink over the denting period (perhaps even the matte lavender, if I'm lucky). We'll see.

My aim will be to hit pan in at least one of those shadows over the next fortnight, and I'll also aim to get myself closer to pan in the matte cream - even if that means using it on my face and not just my eyes - because I'm hoping to start working on these Hourglass quints next year to see if I can't move one or two out of my collection in 2020. 

That's all from me. Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x

I just realised that this is the only bronzer I haven't dented this year, and since it's my favourite and I love using it, it's definitely time to bring it back in.

Plus I've just been denting my Hourglass bronzer in Nude Bronze Light, and it's reminded me of how much I love this particular formula - so I'd like to play with it some more over the next fortnight.

Please note that my review of this shade is here if you'd like to see it. Essentially this is my favourite bronzer formula of all time: it blends and applies beautifully, it looks gorgeous on the skin, plus it airbrushes my face so I look younger when I'm wearing it. Winning.

Indeed, if you haven't tried these yet, I urge you to jump in-store and have one applied to your face. They're just heavenly and I couldn't live without mine.

Here's how my bronzer is looking today, 30 June 2019 (my birthday!):

Below I've enhanced the above shot for clarity:

My aim over the denting period will be to use this enough that we can see a change in the air bubbles on the surface of the product. Given that it's an Hourglass powder and a super pigmented one at that, I don't think we can hope for more (eg, we're unlikely to see any visible flattening of the surface in only two weeks). Indeed, I'll be happy with any visible progress.

Wish me luck!

That's all from me. It's my birthday today so we have a lot planned, although I'm looking forward to seeing if I can't at least wrap-up the other round of Project Dent that's on foot at the moment because it's been three weeks now and that's too long. We'll see.

Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x

Hello and welcome to my next Project Dent update post.

Unfortunately I'm a week late with this and I should have updated you last weekend, but life has been so busy that I fell behind and I'm only getting to this post now.

Hoh well. Better late than never.

Please also note that while I did intend to review this bronzer over the denting period, life got thrown off-course in the second half of June so I didn't get there and I'll have to look at doing that next time.

What I will say, though, is that the quality is up to Hourglass' usual standards and this particular shade doesn't contain any shimmer so it should suit those who want something more matte. It's also more neutral than most of Hourglass' other bronzers so it may appeal to a broader range of skintones, and it works well on me for contouring because it's not so warm so that's worth mentioning too.

Anyhoo. Here's how my bronzer looked three weeks ago, when I introduced it to Project Dent:

And today, after three weeks' daily use:

Below I've enhanced the above two shots for clarity.

Three weeks ago:

Today:

As you can see, I've definitely made some progress over the denting period and I suspect that this is one of the few Hourglass powders I own that won't be too hard to finish. Reason being, it's paler than my other Hourglass bronzers so I use more each time, and it's also the kind of shade that doesn't make me look overdone if I build it.

Hence I'm not surprised to see that the surface has been flattened visibly over the last three weeks, nor am I surprised to see that the air bubbles have changed significantly during that time - so we can tell that I've exposed new product over the denting period.

That's all from me. What I'll do now is pick out something else to work on. I'm not sure yet whether it will be a highlighter or another bronzer. We'll see.

Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x

Hello and welcome to my next makeup inventory post for 2019.

My last inventory post was in March (see here), and I've been on a makeup no buy since the beginning of December so I'll be interested to see how my numbers have dropped over the last three months.

Let's have a look.

Primers

Last update I had three and I now have two. Woot woot, I've finally gotten my primer collection down to reasonable levels!

My goal was four or five so I've managed to beat that, and there's room to buy another one so I'll keep my eyes open. I would love something that's super hydrating for winter.

Setting sprays

Last update I had one and I still have one. While that's a good amount for me, I wouldn't mind owning another one.

No more than two is my goal here.

Liquid/cream illuminators

I had one and I still have one. Currently it's on my Project Pan list because I would like to get through it and try something else, so hopefully that happens soon enough.

One's my goal so we're good here.

Liquid foundations

I had two and I still have two, although one will be finished very soon. Two is a good amount for me, and I'll replace them as I go.

My goal is no more than three.

Shade adjusting drops/foundation mixers

I had two and I now have zero because I've finished them both. Happily I don't need any more for now because the foundations I have match me, but I will likely need to buy more in future - especially once we hit summer.

Two's my goal so we've beaten it.

BB/CC creams and tinted moisturisers

I had three and I now have one because I finished two, so there's room to buy another one because I use tinted moisturisers the most and one isn't enough for me. Might have one coming for my birthday ; )

My goal is no more than two open.

Correctors

I had zero and I now have one because I had to replace the one I'd finished (which I'm allowed to do under my no-buy rules).

One is enough for me so I've met my goal in this category.

Concealers

I had one and I still have one, which is a good amount for me because I don't need much concealer - although the one I have is better for my winter skintone, so I may need to buy myself another one down the track. We'll see.

No more than two is my goal here.

Setting powders

I had two and I still have two.

While initially my goal was one, I'm changing that to three or four because I would like to explore the setting powder category (something I haven't done before) and work out what the best ones are, whether budget or high-end. So I'm ok with this category for now and I plan to buy another one soon.

Finishing powders

I had one and I still have one. Happy with that.

Face palettes

I had three and I still have three.

I don't really have a goal here but three is probably too many for me, so I'll aim to pan myself down to two eventually.

Bronzers/contour powders

I had five and I still have five. While I've already panned one bronzer this year and I'm currently working on a second, both were from my custom palettes so they don't affect the numbers under this heading.

My goal is four, so I'm not far away from that - and considering that I use one of my bronzers as a contour because it's neutral/cool, I can live with five for now.

Blushes

I had seven and I still have seven. 

I'm happy with that amount for the moment but I wouldn't mind finishing some so I can try new things. Blushes however take ages to pan so I'm not holding my breath.

Highlighters

I had six and I now have five because I panned one.

My goal was no more than five so I'm happy with where things are.

Eyeshadow palettes (small and large)

I had fourteen and I still have fourteen: three quints, five septets and six larger palettes. Too many.

Unfortunately this category has blown up over the last two years (I used to have nine), and I want to get it back down again because I don't need this many eyeshadow palettes. Let's see if I can't pan some of the smaller palettes over the next year or two. Fingers crossed!

My goal for 2019 is ten, so that's what I'll work towards.

Eyeliners 

I had one and I still have one.

That's my goal: I don't use much eyeliner.

Mascaras

I had eight and I now have six (only two are open and five are travel sizes) because I've finished two.

My goal here is no more than four: one or two open, and one or two in back-up. I have some work to do but we're getting there.

Brow products

I had two and I still have two: one pencil and one coloured gel. 

Two's my goal, so we're there.

Lipsticks

I had four and I now have three because I panned the mini.

My goal here is no more than four, for the simple reason that I prefer glosses and I'm happy to have less lipsticks and more glosses, so this category is fine for now.

Lip balms

I had one and I still have one.

That's fine. I use lip balms something chronic so I'm happy to buy more later on, but one's enough for the moment.

Lip glosses

I had six and I now have five because I panned one.

My goal is no more than six so I'm happy with this category for now. 

Custom palettes

I have six custom palettes: three larger ones and three smaller ones.

In my last inventory I had:

• four bronzers (I panned one)
• five blushes (I panned one), one being a half-size
• one setting powder 
• seven highlighters (one being a mini and one being a half-size)
• thirty-nine eyeshadows 

I now have:

• four bronzers 
• five blushes, one being a half-size
• one setting powder 
• seven highlighters (one being a mini and one being a half-size)
• thirty-nine eyeshadows 

As mentioned previously, my goal with this section is not so much to get the numbers down (I want my custom palettes to be full), but instead to keep finishing pans so I can continue to de-pot my individual powders and bring those into my palettes. I reach for these daily and everything in them gets plenty of use. 

So I've done ok with this section because we can see there's been some movement: that's all I'm aiming for here.

The final tally

Here we go... *nervous face*

If I count my custom palettes as only six items and don't count the individual pans, I now have 72 products - which is a little less than the 80 items I had in my last inventory. Happy with that!

If I include the individual pans in my custom palettes (but count pre-made palettes as one item), I now have 122 makeup products, which is a reasonable reduction from the 130 I had previously.

I'm going to set a new goal for 2019, this being no more than 70 makeup products. Let's see if I can get there by my next update.

I'm also hoping to get my individual pan count down a little, so let's aim for 110 items by the end of 2019.

That's all from me. Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x

Hello and welcome to another Project Pan mini update.

Please note that I'm unbelievably behind this month and I've barely blogged over the past couple of weeks. This is because I've been drowning in work and general life shit (not to mention my tax), so the blog has unfortunately suffered and I even missed its fifth birthday. Sorry blog! I'll have to celebrate that in the next couple of weeks.

Anyhoo. The first finished item above is my L'Occitane Aqua Gel Cleanser.

I didn't mind this but it was a little drying and I wouldn't buy it again. It also had some ingredients in it that can be irritating to skin, which may explain the drying issue. It was nice to use though, so there is that.

There's how much I had left before I finished it:

So you'll see that I finished quite a bit in one month, and I used it in the shower on both my body and face to get through it. I'm glad it's gone and I'm looking forward to opening another cleanser to use in its place.

As for my other empty, it's my Laura Mercier Foundation Primer (Hydrating):

While this wasn't an awful primer, it wasn't hydrating enough for my dry skin and I'm looking forward to moving on to something else. I'm also happy that I've managed to clear out another makeup item before my updated makeup inventory, which is due now.

Below you'll see my markers:

That's all from me. Just a short post today because I'm having some trouble getting my head back into blogging, but I do hope to bring you my monthly favourites and updated makeup inventory posts over the next couple of days.

After that I should celebrate the blog's fifth birthday (which was on 20 June), but I'm not going to get my knickers in a knot about that because I have so much other stuff to do - including my next monthly Project Pan update, which I'm a few days late with. I'll get there.

Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x

My last skincare inventory was in March (see here), so it's time I checked in to do an updated one.

I'm looking forward to writing this inventory because I know I've finished a lot of stuff lately, and I'm expecting both my makeup and skincare numbers to have gone down. We shall see!

Also note that I will be receiving some skincare for my birthday (30 June), so I want to write this post before then so the numbers will reflect how much my collection has reduced during the six-month spending ban I've just undergone.

Makeup remover

Previously I had two and I still have two (one open full-size and one open travel-size). I finished one but the travel-size was passed on to me by Mum, who wasn't going to use it.

One is my ultimate goal, but I don't mind having a back-up so I'm not worried about this category. 

Cleansing oils/balms

I had one and I still have one, this being a cleansing oil. That's pretty restrained for me - I love these kinds of cleansers - so I'm happy with that!

Two's my goal so we're there.

Cleansers

This is all other cleansers aside from oils and balms. Previously I had five and I now have four, so my numbers have dropped and I'm pleased about that.

My goal here is no more than four open cleansers plus a couple of back-ups because I do get through cleansers reasonably quickly and I like to have some unopened ones on hand, so I can even replenish my stores here. Yay.

Exfoliants

I had two and I still have two because the ones I own are powders that you mix with water before use and they'll take ages to get through.

My goal here is no more than two open products plus a couple of back-ups, so we're there.

Toners

For toners, I'm not only including standard toners but also 'treatment' ones (eg my glycolic toner from Alpha-H). In my last inventory I had five (oops!) and I now have three (one being unopened), so I've brought this category down.

My goal here is no more than four: two open and two unopened back-ups. We're there.

Acids/treatments

The products in this category include eg items from The Ordinary because they don't really fit into any other category and I can still use them in conjunction with my serums or even mixed in with my serums or moisturisers.

Before I had two and I now have three (two being unopened) because I replaced some products when my spending ban lifted at the beginning of June.

Three is my goal in this category so we're there.

Essences

This is a new category because I've only started exploring essences more this year. At the moment I have two (one being unopened) and I'm happy with that.

My goal is no more than two.

Serums

Before I had three and I now have one. Not enough - especially because I don't love the one I own. Looking forward to receiving more for my birthday shortly.

That's my goal so we're there.

Eye creams

I had four and I now have two. I'm happy with that number for now but I am looking forward to buying another one soon because I don't love the one I'm using at night.

No more than three eye creams is a good goal for me so we're there.

Day cream

Previously I had one and I now have four because I needed to buy myself a couple (the two minis I'm using aren't great).

My aim was two so I have some work to do here, but we're not far away.

Night cream/overnight cream

Previously I had two and I now have three (two unopened back-up). The extra items were actually sent to me for review so I haven't bought anything, it's just that they came into my collection via other means.

Two is my goal with this category so we're not too far away.

Oils

I had two and I now have one, so I've managed to get this category down too.

Two's my goal here so I'm able to buy one.

Masks

In my last inventory I had seven and I now have four (one being unopened).

I've managed to get things down because I've been focusing on panning masks this year via Project Pan, which has obviously worked and I'm starting to make a dent in things.

My goal here is no more than four open, so we're there.

It's definitely time for my monthly positives post: I've been up all night, I'm freezing, my chilblains are killing me - plus we've all been sick to boot.

But let's forget all that and focus on the happy stuff this morning. It's called for!

I'm loving the home play-dates

In the warmer months we typically meet my kids' friends in the playground so they can run around and burn off exuberant steam - which is lovely of course, but then us mums are chasing two kids each in various directions so there's stress involved and we don't get much chance to sit down or chat.

Now that the weather is cold and often rainy, we're doing more home play-dates, which is much easier where us parents are concerned. We can chat, we can sit down and have a coffee, and we don't need to watch the kids too much because we all have child-proof houses without, you know, exposed power points and knives in bottom drawers. Hallelujah. 

It's my birthday on 30 June

While I've never been a big birthday person (I hate being the centre of attention), what I love to do is arrange various small lunches and dinners with friends and family - which is a lot more appealing to me than an annual birthday bash. Maybe I'm just getting old ; )

I'll be 39 this year so I've got one year left before I'm socially considered to be a geriatric (ha), and I'm looking forward to using the year ahead to expand my horizons and get my career back on track. Yes I've been working throughout having babies and toddlers and pre-schoolers, but next year my son will be joining my daughter at our local kindergarten - so I'll have more spare time to write, work and, you know, brush my hair. Can't wait.

New beauty products are coming

As you may know, I've been on skincare and makeup no buys since the beginning of December 2018, but I've opened things up for my birthday month and have made a couple of small purchases for myself - plus my husband and family were happy for me to make a few orders and hand them over to be given to me on my birthday (certainly makes present-choosing easier for them hehe). Yay!

Plus most of the new products coming my way in two weeks are sorely needed. My skincare stores are so low that I'm relying on sachets and minis for things like day cream and serums, so my birthday presents will fill some gaps.

On top of that, I have some birthday money left to buy new runners and pillows. They're sorely needed too. Happy days.

We've had decent rain lately

While the rain makes it harder for me to get the kids out to the playground etc, what's great about it is that our garden really needs it (so does everyone else's I suspect).

Our garden is already looking a lot happier for it, our rainwater tank is no longer running on empty, and I've stopped needing to haul buckets of rainwater and dispense them across the garden on a regular basis (not great for my back, given the amount of bending and lifting I already have to do with young kids).

The much-needed rain is also a reminder of climate change, and the reality of our impact on nature. We didn't get enough rain during autumn, and I've been watching our trees wither before my very eyes. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would say that. Hooray for rain.

This weekend is free

Our weekends have been so packed lately with kids' birthday parties, play-dates, catch-ups with our friends and the like, that it's nice to have a weekend ahead that's completely free.

This will hopefully mean I can finally get the remains of my tax spreadsheets sorted before the EOFY. I was on top of things up until a couple of weeks ago, but it's been so busy lately that I've fallen behind. Can't wait to get back on track this weekend and cross this tax rubbish off my list.

As for the rest of the admin list... Well. Let's not even go there ; )

In sum

That's all from me!

Hopefully you have plenty of your own positives this month: do let me know in the comments if so. I'd love to hear.

Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x

* All images courtesy of unsplash.com